Ullapool to Edinburgh - Route 1 from Tain

 

The recently shortened official Sustrans route 1 now starts at Tain. I landed from the Hebrides in Ullapool and had two choices of cycling route to get to Tain (or I could have recovered my cycle at Inverness and then taken a train north), either the southerly route via Dingwall and then north to Tain (a route I took on Land's End - John O'Groats two years ago) or the new to me route north out of Ullapool and then south east to Tain so I went for the new route.

The date I departed Ullapool was fixed and I had already been away for a week when I decided to tack the 1,000 mile route 1 onto the end of it. My girlfriend is very understanding but being away for a month isn't cricket so we agreed to meet, at first in Edinburgh, for a weekend and I also needed to be back in London for some meetings that week. I thought the simple answer was to leave my bike in Edinburgh to be serviced and then pop back to London by train as that is a good way to travel if you can't cycle. The weekend away was moved to York as being more central and meaning quicker train journeys for both of us. By chance we met a man from Sustrans near York station. 

The weekend and the end of the Hebrides trip set the number of days available for me to cycle to Edinburgh. I had checked distances on google and they didn't seem to exceed 60 a day so off I went. Google takes the shorter route for its distances. I should have used ridewithgps which is more accurate.

Here is the punishing schedule I ended up with, only Tain to Inverness being less than challenging.

Prior to this trip my previous longest day was 89.55 miles which included Shap Fell and that was without 2 panniers (one contains a small laptop! and the other a D-lock which also weighs at least a kilogram) with my day clothes, wash bag, spare cycling kit, tools & spares etc.

Lots of climbing is as hard as long distances and I really don't recommend that you replicate the overnight stops that I used (although you may be much quicker than me) but you do want or need time to stop and eat and take photographs. I have Schwalbe Marathon tyres on the bike and they are pretty robust but losing 30 minutes to fix a puncture on this schedule would hurt. I would add in two more nights if I found myself in this corner of Scotland again.

I now have a longest ride of 91 miles but that involves rolling into your hotel after 10pm so dinner isn't an option although they kindly opened the bar for me.

Here are some of the photos I took. You can get all these live on instagram on my hashtag of @dishbike.

It is funny to see a sign for somewhere north when you are going south.

In the background you may be able to see a man walking. He was headed to Dover or Folkestone, I can't remember which. I was also headed to Folkestone but we were going in opposite direction. These two cyclists were from Folkestone or thereabouts, they had just enjoyed their best ever coffee with the view, a coffee they made themsleves as they were camping. They thought the encounter of us all, basically in the middle of nowhere, was the most bizarre event of their trip so far.

Just look at the views.

This was the view from where I met the two cyclists above.

Love a ferry, this one took 2 cars, drive on reverse off, and anything else which would fit.

An agricultural area, such colour.

I had been along the river here when travelling the other way on LEJOG two years ago, it was comforting.

At some point I will cycle route 7.

Love a viaduct. I seem to recall a murderous hill once I passed it.

The views, again.

These cows rowed up like  a welcoming committee.

A lovely breakfast at the Royal Oak in Cullen to set me up for the day. A very hilly town.

Thought I was suddenly in Essex.

I kept encountering diversion signs, can I sneak through or not? I usually give it a go.

Old railway lines usually make good cycle tracks.

More views. Scotland is endlessly beautiful.

I had a choice of a road or a track, I took the track and so came across this unofficial distance post.

A closed route did not have a diversion posted, I found out how unpassable it was the hard way.

This footpath was closed but it would have been better to bar the route.

Super view number 4.

The hotel was very grand (once but it had faded a bit).

Great safe route for cycles.

Forth Bridge, nearly in Edinburgh.

Although I accidentally set myself a stupid schedule I did it and survived. I also whacked out more miles than expected and learnt something which made the rest of the journey easier. I also had a rest for a week before continuing southwards.

Scotland is beautiful. You need to plan your stops carefully and pack food and drink as you may go many miles without seeing any sort of shop.

The end, for now.